RC44 teams in the starting blocks for the 44Cup Puntaldia
by 44Cup 22 Apr 21:49 BST
22-26 April 2026
44Cup Puntaldia © MartinezStudio.es
The 44Cup owners and crews have been enjoying their first few days on the water and ashore in the build-up to the second event of their 2026 season, based out of Puntaldia on Sardinia's northeast coast.
The 380-berth boutique marina here, situated close to a marine reserve just south of Olbia, has hosted sailing events for other one design classes in the past, but the RC44s are the largest yachts to have raced out of here to date.
Having enjoyed the most success here is Italian Vasco Vascotto, tactician on John Bassadone's Peninsula Racing, who won his second back-to-back Melges 32 World Championship title here in 2024.
"It's a marvellous place," says Vascotto of this week's venue. "The conditions here are quite tricky when the breeze is coming from the southeast and when it is in the northeast, you have Tavolara in the middle, which makes for a lot of 'casino'. I prefer Mistral conditions when the wind is coming off the land and it's very shifty." According to Vascotto the wind, certainly for Thursday and Friday, will be northerly, ie over the towering wedge-shaped island of Tavolara, Sardinia's answer to the rock of Gibraltar. "Let's pray the Tavolara sends some good shifts to us!"
Peninsula Racing starts the 44Cup Puntaldia with the overall season leader's 'golden wheels' following their victory in Puerto Calero in February - incredibly their first event win in nine years, when they also won in Lanzarote. However for the last event they had chartered Black Star Sailing Team's RC44 prior to arrival of their brand new RC44 for this event. Should having a new boat make a difference here? "It's a one design, so it shouldn't be too much different," says Vascotto. "But the reality is that when you go sailing for the first time with a new boat, everything is bedding in - the mast, shrouds, etc - and we need to adjust everything every single day."
The 2025 44Cup winner, Vladimir Prosikhin's Team Nika, had a disappointing start to their season in Puerto Calero but are hoping to do better this week. Prosikhin has raced and cruised here often. "I've sailed here, probably five or six times in the Melges 20. It's very beautiful, very nice and being Sardinia, it's one of the cleanest, special places in the Med. The hospitality is very good - in fact the restaurant here is one of the best marina restaurants I've ever been in! The owner of the marina really takes care of everything and the set-up here is always very good."
Racing here for Prosikhin represents unfinished business. "I was winning a Melges 20 World Championship here and we were winning the last race. In the Sirocco wind there were waves, which we were handling it well until we got two 'special' waves: we jumped from one onto the next and the boat went vertical and then on to its side. So I broached the boat 100 metres from the finish line and finished second overall... So that is my most vivid memory, not positive, but there were a lot of very good races and nice conditions."
Tied on points and filling the remaining spots on the leaderboard in Puerto Calero in February - Team Aqua and Gemera Racing - are both expected to do well as are Sweden's Artemis Racing and Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing, with Pietro Loro Piana behind the wheel as he will be for the whole of this season. Making a welcome return is Nico Poons to the helm of his 2022-23 44Cup-winning Team Charisma following surgery. Meanwhile Turkish duo Mehmet Taki and Murat Edin and their Wow! Sailing Team are hoping to build on their first ever race win in Puerto Calero.
Back for the first time since the 44Cup Scheveningen last year is Christian Zuerrer's Black Star Sailing Team. The Swiss team still features Cameron Dunn calling tactics, but also several key new crew such as Luke Malloy and 44Cup veteran Christian Kamp, trimming main and headsails respectively, plus new youngsters British bowman Randall Jackson and Ocean Race sailors - Australian Charlie Wyatt and Poland's Maya Michynska.
"We have a new bunch of people, but we've already showed our ability to be in the pack," commented Zuerrer, who has been busy honing his skills in other classes in recent months ready for his return to the 44Cup. "We know that the level is even higher than last year - everybody's fighting hard and the racing is as close as we've known in the past. We will try our best and potentially step a little bit higher every day."
Racing starts tomorrow 23 April with a first warning signal at 1200 CET.
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